Combination mixing and injecting medical syringe



United States Patent [72] inventor JosephDenmanShaw 3,326,215 6/1967Sarnotfetal. 128/272X 508ChurchSt.,Brownsville,Pa. 15417 3,336,9248/1967 Sarnoffetal. 128/218X(M) [2 1 pr 3 1 4 fs N 662340 A 22 1967FOREIGN PATENTS lVISlOllO er. 0. ug. Pawn No.3489147whichisaconfinua32,420 10/1923 Denmark 128/218(M) on ofser No 384148 Jul 21 1964 608,0434/1926 France 128/218 abandon; y 282,622 3/1915 Germany 128/218(M) 22Filed ing-5' OTHER REFERENCES [45] Patented Dec. 22, 1970 Only drawingrelied upon.

COMBINATION MIXING AND INJECTING Primary Examiner-Samuel Koren AssistantExaminer-James H. Czerwonky Attorney-Baldwin, Egan, Walling & FetzerABSTRACT: A combined mixing and injecting syringe has an outer barrel tocontain a first ingredient and provided with an injection outlet, has aninner barrel slidable in a sealed manner longitudinally of the outerbarrel for containing a second ingredient, and has a plunger slidable ina sealed manner longitudinally of the inner barrel. The inner barrel hasa discharge opening of small diameter communicating with the hollow ofthe outer barrel and normally closed by a small plug. A pin is providedin the closed end of the outer barrel in position to push the small plugmechanically out of blocking position in the inner barrel dischargeopening upon relative movement of the two barrels. The pin is laterallyspaced from the injection outlet and is fixed within the closed end,extending inwardly in alignment with the discharge opening.

i i l n 5 COMBINATION MIXING AND INJECTING MEDICAL SYRINGE Thisapplication is a division of application Ser. No. 662,340,- filed Aug.22, 1967, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,147, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 384,148, filed July 21, 1964, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a combined mixing and injecting syringe usefulamong other things in medical practice for the injection of atwo-ingredient mixture.

One of the objects of the present invention is the provision of asyringe whereby one ingredient, such as a powder or liquid, may bedissolved in asuitable diluent second ingredient and then injected intoa patient by the use of this novel syr- Inge.

Other objects of this invention include the arrangement of the parts forquick assembly and disassembly for loading or cleaning, means forquickly measuring the amounts of the mixed ingredients, and otherobjects and advantages as will be apparent in the accompanying drawingsand description.

In the drawings, I

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a central sectional view of the device of FIG. 1;

FlG.-3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. I;

7 FIG. 4 is a fragmental sectional view similar to the upper portion ofFIG. 2 and showing a modified construction for breaking a sealpermitting mixing of ingredients;

FIG. 5 is a central sectional view through another modification of theinvention;

FIG. 6 is a central sectional view through another modifica tion of thisinvention related to FIG. 5; while FIG. 7 is an elevational view ofcertain of the parts of FIG. 6 in the process of assembly.

Prior to this invention, to the best of my knowledge and belief, therehas been an unmet need for a mixing syringe wherein two or moreingredients could be easily placed in separate chambers of the syringewith no mixing occurring until just before the injection of the combinedingredients into a patient and constructed with easily manipulated partswhereby a breachable passageway communicating with the chamberscontaining the separate ingredients is adapted to be easily and quicklyopened followed by mixing of the ingredients in a mixing chamber and theimmediate propulsion of the contents out of the syringe.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, an outer liquid-retainingbarrel is open at the lower end as viewed in the drawings and closed atthe upper end save for a discharge outlet 26. Those skilled in this artwill understand that to the outlet 26 may be easily connected ordisconnected a rectal tip 27 or a standard hypodermic needle as shown insome of the views of the drawings. An inner liquid-retaining barrel 28is adapted to move axially in and out of the open end of the barrel 25.This inner barrel has a discharge opening 29 of small diameter adaptedto communicate with the discharge end of the barrel 25. I have calledthis a breachable passageway inasmuch as it is initially closed by meansof a small plug 30 which in this case might be vaseline, silicone rubberor a number of other suitable materials. The upper end of barrel 28 asviewed in the drawings carries a gasket 31 of a suitable resilientmaterial such as rubber or plastic adapted to sealingly engage the innerwalls of the outer barrel 25. The parts of the gasket and the innerbarrel 28 are rigidly connected together as shown in the drawings. Theother end of barrel 28 is open to receive a reciprocatable plunger 32which sealingly engages the interior walls of the barrel 28. In thisform of the invention, glass parts are fitted with such close tolerancesthat there is to all intents and purposes a seal between the plunger 32and the barrel 28. In other forms of the invention an annular gasketseal is provided for the same purpose.

The inner and outer barrels and the plunger described in variousembodiments of this invention are preferably made of glass or reasonablytransparent plastic for reasons of economy, ease of sterilization, andthe desirability of looking through the equipment to note the positionof the ingredients. Such translucent or transparent barrels may beprovided with measuring indicia if desired and as shown in FIG. 1. Whilethese indicia have not been shown in all of the embodiments in thedrawings, it will be understood that this feature of the invention maybe applied to any of the embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the use of this embodiment, a measured amount ofa first ingredient such as a powder 33 is placed in the outer barrel 25before inserting the inner barrel 28 with its attached gasket 31. Asecond ingredient 34 is easily loaded into the inner barrel 28. This maybe done by sucking the ingredient 34 through the passageway 29 beforethe parts are assembled in the outer barrel, after which the small plug30 is applied to the passageway 29. Otherwise, the plunger 32 may beremoved from the barrel 28 and the ingredient 34 inserted under vacuum,after which the plunger 32 is placed in the proper position. With theparts as shown in FIG. 2, the plunger 32 is driven into the barrel 28causing sufficient pressure on the ingredient 34 to eject the plug 30and propel the contents of barrel 28 into the mixing chamber at theupper end of barrel 25. Ingredients 33 and 34 are then mixed by shakingthe device a few times, after which the barrel 28 is driven into thebarrel 25 to discharge the contents through the discharge outlet 26.Those skilled in the art will understand that if there is any air in themixing chamber, the syringe will normally be held with the discharge endupwardly as shown in the drawings and the gasket 31 moved upwardly untilall of the air is discharged before injecting the mixed contents into apatient. I

It can be seen that after the hypodermic needle is inserted into apatient, the plunger 32 can be pulled back in order to attemptaspiration to help determine the position of the needle. Thereby thepossibility of an intravascular injection is minimized when anintramuscular or subcutaneous injection is desired. g

In the modification of FIG. 4, all of the parts are the same asdescribed in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2 except that a pin 35 isrigidly fastened to the closed end of the barrel 25 and extendingaxially inwardly in such a position that when the barrel 28 and thegasket 31 are advanced upwardly as viewed in the drawings, the pin 35will force the small plug 30 backward into the inner barrel 28 insteadof relying upon the pressure of the ingredients 34 as described inconnection with FIG. 2.

Up to this point, the embodiments described herein use reciprocatableplungers for propelling the second ingredient into the mixing chamberand for propelling the mixture to injectthe patient. I shall nowdescribe some embodiments utilizing gas or air under pressure as thepropelling means.

In FIG. 5, I have shown a first ingredient chamber 101 which ispreferably of glass and is closed except for an inlet for gas or airunder pressure at 102 closed by a check valve 103. This capsule has aneck 104 which has a threaded connection 105 with a collar 106 which isintegral with a second capsule 107 having an outlet neck 108 which has athreaded connec tion 109 with a closure cap 110 which supports at itsdischarge end a hypodermic needle 111 or the like. With the partsassembled as shown in FIG. 5, the outlet 101a of the capsule 101 i isaligned with the inlet 107a of the capsule 107. A frangible seal 112 isprovided between the passageways 101a and 1070 initially. In likemanner, the outlet 1071; of capsule 107 is aligned with passageway a inthe closing cap but these are separated by a frangible seal 113. A firstingredient 114 of measured amount is placed in capsule 101 and a chargeof gas or air under pressure is applied in chamber 115. A measuredamount of a second ingredient 116 is placed in capsule 107. In use ofthis device, the seal 112 is first broken by utilizing threadedconnection 105 to turn the neck 104 in the collar 106 causing a pressureto break the seal 112. The charge in chamber will then drive theingredient 114 through 1010 and 1070 into capsule 107 to mix withingredient 116. At this time the charge in chamber 117 is derived fromthe charge originally in chamber 115. The needle 111 is then injectedinto the patient. This lower portion of closure cap 110 is thenutilizing thethreaded connection 109 in the same manner as the threadedconnection105 was previously used. A filter is provided at 1 18 toprevent any foreign material,.such as from the seals 112 or 113, fromreaching the hypodermic needle 11.

A modification of the structure shown in FIG. is illustrated in FIGS. 6and 7. A first capsule 119 has a filling connection 120 at itsupperend-and a discharge port 121 at its lower end connected to the capsuleby an integral collar 122. Initially, the capsule 119 is provided withthe desired amount of one ingredient 123 and then a charge 'ofcompressed gas or air is provided inthe upper portion of the capsule at124 and the filling neck is closed by a fused bead 125 of glass orplastic depending upon what the capsule is made of. The discharge neck121 is closedby a similarbead 126 prior to the filling operation. Asecond or lower capsule is provided having a discharge neck 128 closedby a fusedbead 129. The upper end of this capsule has collar 130 whichasoriginally formed is in the position shown in FIG; 7.'Before anyingredient is placed in this embodiment, the two capsules are securedtogether by fusing the neck 121 to the collarl30 at the point A asindicated in FIG. 7. The collar 130 is then heated and inverted asshownat 130 in FIG. 6 so as to place the seal 126 inside the collar 130.

Where the two capsules are joined together a flexible collar 132 ofplastic or rubber is placed as shown in FIG. 6. This collar 132 may bemade in place by means of a plastic which shrinks upon drying or bywrapping layers of flexible material in a continuous tube bound togetherby a suitable coating.

A collar 133 similar to that at 132 is provided to attach the dischargeneck 128 of capsule 127 with the base end 134a of a hypodermic needle134. Inside of the flexible collar 133 there is placed a filter 135 toprotect the patient from any particles which might be released'throughthe capsules during an injection.

In operation of the device of FIG. 6, the seal 126 is first broken bybending the flexible collar 132 permitting the ingredient .123 to movethrough outlet neck 121 into capsule 127 propelled by the fluid pressurecharge 124. The total charge in capsule 127 then might arise as high asthe line B and the contents may be shaken to mix them. For propellingthe mixed contents out of capsule 127 into the patient, the charge 124may be of sufficiently high pressure that when the i ingredients are allin the capsule 127, the pressure fluid charge inchamber 136 will be ofthe right value for injecting the patient. Otherwise, a second gaseouscharge may be placed in chamber .136 at the time that capsule 127 isfirst filled. The

hypodermic needle 134 is inserted in the proper position in -of theneedle in the patient. The flexible collar 133 is suffi- .cien tlytransparent to examine the presence or absence of aspirate from thepatient. If conditions are suitable, the flexible collar isthenmanipulated to break the seal and the mixed ingredients are injectedinto the patient.

let and asecond measured ingredient chamber having a closed butbreachable passageway communicating with the mixing chamber inlet. Meansis provided for opening the breachable passageway and for propelling thecontents of the ingredient chamber into the mixing chamber with theingredient already placed thereafter which the mixing chamber may beshaken to thoroughly mix the contents. Means is provided then forpropelling the contents of the. mixing chamber through the outlettoinject a patient, This provides a quick and easy manner'of mixing-twoingredients in place in a syringe just before injecting a patient and isan improvement over methods previously known.

lclaim:

l. A combined mixing andinjecting syringe comprising an outer firstinredient-retaining barrel open at one end and having a disc arge outletat its other, closed end, an inner second-ingredient-retaining barrelopen at one end and having at its other end a gasket having sealingengagement with the interior surface of said outer barrel and beingmovable axially in said outer barrel, there being a discharge opening ofsmall diameter through said gasket communicating between the interior ofsaid inner barrel and the interior of said outer barrel at its endtoward said discharge outlet, a small plug having the dimensions of saiddischarge opening initially closing said discharge opening, a pinlaterally spaced from said discharge outlet and fixed within said closedend of said outer barrel extending inwardly in alignment with saiddischarge opening through said gasket and in position and of a length topush said small'plug mechanically backward in said discharge openinginto said inner barrel when said inner barrel is moved toward saidclosed end of said outer barrel, a plunger adapted to sealingly engagethe interior surface of said inner barrel and move axially endwise of.said inner barrel through the open end thereof, whereby a firstingredient of a mixture including a dispensable solid may be placed insaid outer barrel and held thereby said inner barrel, and a liquidsecond ingredient of said mixture may be placed in said inner barrel andheld there by said plunger, after which by manipulation of said innerbarrelsaid small plug may be pushed backward through said dischargeopening into said inner barrel and said second ingredient may then bepropelled, by manipulation of said plunger, through said dischargeopening into said first ingredient in said outer barrel, said twoingredients may be mixed there, and then said mixture may be propelledby said inner barrel through said discharge outlet to inject a patient.

